Tag: application

Raise your hand if you have all your medical records (lab results, x-rays, release documents, measurements) neatly stored in one place, organised by date and type of record. Yeah… I thought so. I think it’s about time to sort things out. No, it doesn’t take long. No, it’s not complicated. Yes, just take a photo of your papers with our app.

I assume by now you’ve guessed what this post is about. We just rolled out a new feature to manage your medical history so you can easily visualise and understand your past health related events. From now on, beside your self-measurements, you can also upload results you received from your doctor just by snapping a photo of them. You can also enter any medical procedures that you may have had. We are already working on the web version of this feature so you will soon (i.e. in a couple of days) be able to see your med records on a neat timeline on the monitor of your computer. We are also working on something VERY cool that helps you make use of the information you store in the Laborom cloud, but I can’t tell you what it is just yet. Hang tight… you’ll love this!

Oh, there is one more thing: you can also set future events (i.e. reminders) in the Medical Records feature that will help you remember doctor’s appointments. 😉 After the appointment these automatically turn into an entry in your medical history.

That’s it for today.

If you think we are on the right track then don’t forget to download our app for iOS and Android!

Since the release of the 2.0 version of laborom in September we spent a lot of time listening to your feedback and implementing changes that were important to you. There were many incremental changes that we made, but we also prepared some new features to the system on the way to becoming the go-to app for people living with chronic diseases like diabetes.

Here are some functions we have added to laborom v2.1:

Infobox

The Infobox appears as a new card on the dashboard where we provide you with various up-to-date information about health related topics, features and updates.

Automatic reminders

This was probably the most requested feature through the Help Center in laborom. From now on, once you enter a before-meal blood glucose reading you will get a reminder in 75 minutes to measure and record your BG again.

One more thing…

Share the love <3

We thought you might want to tell other people how much you love laborom, so we made it easier for you. Just open the menu in the app and hit share on the bottom to show us your support. Thank you!

Thanks for staying with us and we’ll keep you posted on important releases; which actually you can now see in your app in the Infobox as well.

Why are we doing this? How did I decide to personally tackle the problem with healthcare? How did I decide to do something for healthcare, for patients and last but not least for myself?

I am not 16 anymore, but I do remember what my priorities were back then. Playing basketball after school and impressing the girls. Now imagine “John” doing just this. Except all of a sudden he wakes up in a hospital; standing in front of him is a guy in a white coat and a clip-board. “John, you’ve just had a ketoacidotic coma so we performed an oral glucose tolerance test. The result was that you have 14 mmol/l of glucose in your blood. We determined that you have Type-1 Diabetes. A nurse will talk to you and prescribe a glucose meter and an insulin pen. She will explain in more detail, but basically you will need to prick your fingers preferably 9 times a day to measure your blood glucose level and record the readings in a notebook, and if your readings are too high you need to stick the pointy end of the insulin pen into your stomach. You also need to do this before every meal.” A natural reaction from every 16 year old to this is:

Unfortunately the “WUT?” facial expression does not only appear on the faces of kids newly diagnosed with T1D, but to almost anyone ever going to a doctor. So we thought about how we could make this better for everyone. Our first premise was that even the doctors don’t see the right information and we started brainstorming an app where people could enter any or all of their medical data. We realised that this was way too difficult to organise into an app. So we decided to build an app where users can enter only their basic (but vital) health information and then we will see which way to go based on user feedback. Our friends were developing the app at night after they got home from their full time jobs. Not long after we uploaded the app to the stores feedback started pouring in! Even after this, it wasn’t a dead simple decision to go from a steady and well paying Corporate Risk Management job with a new born child and a wife to a no-salary existence. Still, I decided to jump ship and dive into the rough waters.

Based on the feedback we started working on a new application built from the ground up. Our app is now serving well over 50,000 patients from 189 countries localised into 11 languages. Today, it helps people upload and organise the results they received from lab tests or from home measurements, such as blood glucose, blood pressure, weight, medications taken or even calorie intake, and organise them into understandable smart visualisations. However, we did not forget about our initial premise of helping patient-doctor communication. Any measurement entered into the application can be formed into a report and sent to the doctor. These reports were designed together with doctors so that it is useful and accepted by them. The smart data visualisations that can be found in the application were migrated onto the sleek looking PDF reports for easy information consumption.

We want to change healthcare because nobody is going to do this for us.

This is how staggering the rise of obesity has become: according to the Surgeon General’s office, the number of obese or overweight adults in this country is 50% higher than it was just a decade ago. Recent studies have projected that 1/3 of the children born in 2000 will develop Type 2 Diabetes, which was once commonly referred to as adult-onset diabetes and is primarily driven by excessive weight. And perhaps most unsettling of all: over the last ten years the number of deaths directly related to obesity-inspired diseased has increased by 33%.

Obesity contributes to diabetes, heart disease, and strokes. Diabetes leads to an increased risk of heart disease, blindness, limb amputation, and kidney problems. The close relationship between excessive weight and diabetes is undeniable. Which is why it’s so important for those who are either pre-diabetes or have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes to monitor their body mass index.

What is your body mass index (BMI)? It’s an easily calculated number which tells you the percentage of your of body weight that consists of fat. Although this number is not 100% on-the-money perfect, especially when the calculation is based solely on height and weight, it’s a good ball park figure. Certainly good enough to use as a guide if you’re trying to lose weight. Other factors that are normally taken into consideration are sex and age.

The most accurate way to determine your body mass index is by working with your doctor. Not only can he offer you some additional insights into the meaning of the number, he can advise you on how best to start losing weight.

However, if you’d like to get a quick peek at where you fall in the BMI scale, fill in your height and weight in the laborom application and keep track of changes in your body.

weight diary cardweight trends

After you’ve determined your BMI number, you’ll want to know what it means. As a rough guideline for adults a BMI of less than 20 implies underweight, over 25 is overweight, and over 30 is obese. I’m in slightly in the overweight category with 25.99 being my last BMI, but I’m gradually loosing weight by trying to eat healthy and going for short runs every couple of days. For a more specific idea of where you fall in the index, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute provides a complete Body Mass Index Table for your convenience. You can find it here.

The bottom line: if you’re overweight, you’re in danger of developing diabetes. This dreadful disease is nearly silent, yet it can cause kidney failure, heart damage, strokes, even the loss of limbs to amputation. This is why it’s so important to keep a close eye on your weight and particularly your body mass index.

Talk about ways to change the future of diabetes with technological advancements filled the room even before the meetup kicked off. In fact it was already the subject of the elevator ride to the 6th floor of the prestigious Paris Department Store building in downtown Budapest, where the event took place.

Even though this was only the first in a series of meetups about beating diabetes with technology (#BDTech) already 80 people showed interest in this topic. A great mix of people from all different angles showed up to discuss the ever-evolving theme of needs and solutions in monitoring, management and therapy in diabetes. Attendees included hardware manufacturing company and local market leader in glucose monitoring devices, innovative pharmaceutical companies, patients, advocates, bloggers, developers and last but not least doctors.

The conversation was kicked off by Levente Szasz, CEO of the company creating digital diabetes diary application laborom, who is also one of the organisers of the first meetup. Levente talked about why it is important to talk about possible technological advancements in diabetes management and their plans about expanding the meetup into an international series. He also introduced their recently rebuilt application. “This was a great opportunity for us to talk with stakeholders from various sides and get their input on the direction we are heading with laborom”, Levente noted. “We received some invaluable input that we will hurry to implement as soon as possible” he added with a smile.

Dr. Daniel Vegh, also an organiser of the #BDTech meetup and founder of DYA Europe and IDB (Youth Diabetes Blog and Movement / Ifjúsági Diabétesz Blog és Mozgalom) – a blog and a movement to support youngsters going through the same problems Daniel had being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 19 – followed by giving tips on how to get involved with diabetes communities and how to activate patients to become their own innovators. Daniel is also the founder of the first Hungarian football team for people dealing with diabetes, aptly called FC DiaBeaters. “When laborom approached me to co-organise this meetup series I was really enthusiastic about it and now I’m really happy that so many people were interested in our first occasion.” Daniel said. “It is great to see so many people and companies alike wanting to be part of the change and the community that can help make this change come alive. After all, this was one of my goals when I started IDB. And I guess this is the part where I add that we are looking for people who would like to organise chapters of this event in their local community. “ Daniel added.